B&Y All at Sea: March 2019

Days 2 and 3 - at Sea

Tuesday and Wednesday , 26th and 27th March 2019

Leaving Dubai through the Persian Gulf, passing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman and on through the Arabian Sea toward our next port of call. All these waterways forming part of or extensions of the North Indian Ocean.

Tuesday

Sailing distance from Dubai to Salalah = 987nm

After yesterday’s long day we slept for over 10 hours and woke feeling better. Breakfast was followed by our Pirate Drill. Our Captain, Aseem Hashmi, getting more like an old friend we have sailed with him so much, announced the start of the drill, all passengers had to return to their staterooms, those in inside rooms stayed in their rooms, those with balconies or windows had to sit in the corridor and stay away from their doors. Everyone being accounted for we were allowed to get back to our busy day. The Captain also announced that in the early hours of the morning we has collected 4 new members to the crew - a Royal Navy Officer and 3 armed security officers.

This was followed by our first Trivia, with Rosemary a lady we met on the flight over. Not a great start with only 11 out of 20.

Day ticked by us usual until time for the highlight of the day Afternoon Tea, closely followed by another Trivia with just the 2 of us where we did slightly better with 16 out of 20.

All day we kept meeting and catching up with familiar faces from previous cruises, mainly the World Voyage, and certainly there were others recognised whom we had never actually spoken with.

Dinner this evening in the Kings Court buffet followed by a visit to the theatre for the Cunard singers and dancers, a new show for us, in ‘Be My Guest’ which featured a mix of show and movie songs along with a medley of Adele songs and the finale a from the ‘Greatest Showman’, a film which actually premiered on this ship in New York.

The show was a little later than normal so time to catch a few more Zzzzz’s.

Wednesday

Awoke after another 9 hours sleep, catching up now? Now sailing in the Arabian Sea, passing just out of sight of the Omani Coast. The weather hot and sunny, the seas very calm. We saw quite a few Gannets flying around the front of the ship. We did hear from other passengers of a pod of dolphins being spotted, but not by us!

Spare Parts - also known as the Commodore's Cufflinks

The day generally followed the normal pattern for sea days, breakfast, trivia - picked up another new member for our quiz team - afternoon tea, trivia, dinner in the Kings Court.

After dinner took advantage of the pirate precautions with the deck lights been reduced/turned off and went up to the top deck for a stargazing experience. Wonderful views of the Milky Way, with so many stars visible that even the well known constellations such as Orion were almost swamped by their sheer abundance.

Day 1 - Heathrow and Dubai, UAE

Sunday and Monday, 24th and 25th March 2019

Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).On the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf, it is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai , one of the seven emirates that make up the country.

Dubai is a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a major global transport hub for passengers and cargo. Oil revenue helped accelerate the development of the city, which was already a major mercantile hub, but Dubai's oil reserves are limited and production levels are low: today, less than 5% of the emirate's revenue comes from oil.A growing centre for regional and international trade since the early 20th century, Dubai’s economy today relies on revenues from trade, tourism, aviation, real estate, and financial services.

Dubai has attracted world attention through large construction projects and sports events, in particular the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. As of 2012, Dubai was the most expensive city in the Middle East.

Off to Heathrow, today an evening flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

SEVEN hours, I never knew it was so far away!

Our lift to the airport arrived on time and the trip went without incident. Hopefully his trip home was equally quick. Self serve baggage drop went well now we know how it works. Soon through security and found a nice seat with a view of some planes. Quite a wait till our flight but coffee and a roll helped fill in the time. Eventually we were able to catch the transit train over to ‘C’ gates, only a short wait until the start of boarding. We had booked aisle seats which turned out better than expected, and soon were buckled in and on the runway ready for takeoff.

In flight entertainment very good, with plenty of films to choose from along with other channels. Dinner arrived at about midnight with a choice of chicken or vegetable pasta. Eventually watched the Crimes of Grindelwald and Bohemian Rhapsody, both very good.

Clocks jumped forward 4 hours, makes the night much shorter. Sadly no sleep but time passed and all too soon it was breakfast, about 3 am UK time, 7 am Dubai time.

Landed on time with a long taxiing to the terminal, soon off the plane with a short walk to the transit train to take us to baggage claim and immigration. All went well.

Had a bit of trouble finding our transfer to the ship, but once we found him we had very nice, if slightly hair-raising drive in a huge SUV to the ship. By now it was around 10.00am and still a bit of a wait at the terminal until we were able to check in. 12.00 they started calling us to book in, we must have found the least able chap with the worse working pc to do our booking in. First the passports would not pass the scanner, then the camera would not work and lastly the credit card reader wouldn’t authorise. Eventually we got through and made it on board and into our stateroom.

Time for a cup of tea, unpack our cases and a walk around the ship. The weather being rather cloudy and murky, lots of dust in the air, which you could taste. This made the views over the city most unclear. We could just about make out the skyline.

The Burj is really there, glad we didn't take the trip to the top, to see not much!

One thing which we could see was the much beloved dear old QE2, now a hotel since it’s retirement from ocean voyages. Quite a few of the passengers joining here in Dubai had taken advantage and booked for the QE2 for a pre-cruise stay.

Buffet dinner tonight couldn’t face dressing up for the restaurant. Dinner finished just about time we sailed away, a bit late due to late returning passengers.